Means for freezing ice pellets and depositing them individually in a common container as required



Oct. 13, 1970 L. E. HAWLEY 3,533,246

MEANS FOR FREEZING ICE PELLETS AND DEPOSITING THEM INDIVIDUALLY IN A COMMON CONTAINER AS REQUIRED Filed March 3, 1969 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Q Q 466 awn/45y L. E. HAWLE Y 3; ,g 33,246 A CQMMON CONTAINER AS REQUIRED v Oct. 13, I970 MEANS FOR FREEZING ICE PELLETS: AND DEPOSITING T INDIVIDUALLY IN Filed March 5, 1969 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. L55 6- HA Wy A TTOEA/V Oct. 13, 1970 L. E. HA'WLEY 3,533,246

' MEANS FOR FREEZING ICE PELLETS AND DEPOSITING THEM INDIVIDUALLY IN A COMMON CONTAINER AS REQUIRED Filed March 3, 1969 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 -INVENTOR. 466 6 HAM 46V I W AQQQQQQQ 3,533,246 7: ING THEM QUIRED L. E. HAWLEY Oct. 13,

MEANS FOR FREEZING ICE PELLETS AND DEPOSIT INDIVIDUALLY IN A COMMON CONTAINER AS RE Filed March 5, 1969 7 Sheets-Sheet L SOME/VO/D VAN/6 MANUAL INVENTOR 466 5. HAM 46V 0 flg ATTOE/VGV Oct. 13, 1970 L. E. HAWLEY 3,533,246

MEANS FOR FREEZING PELLETS AND OSITING THEM IVIDUALLY IN 11 MON CONTAINE S REQU D 7 ets-Sheet 5 IND Filed March 3, 1969 Fm. 10. I W

A TTOE/VH S Oct. 13, 1970 L. E. HAWLEY 3,533,246

MEANS FOR FREEZING ICE PELLETS AND DEPOSITING THEM INDIVIDUALLY IN A COMMON CONTAINER AS REQUIRED Filed March 3, 1969 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 W W Md J 34 M/V/VTOE 97 466 e. HAM/45) ay 96 23 M Oct. 13, 1970 w EY 3,533,246

MEANS FOR FREEZING ICE PELLETS AND DEPOSITING THEM INDIVIDUALLY IN A COMMON CONTAINER AS REQUIRED 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed March 5, 1969 United States Patent MEANS FOR FREEZING ICE PELLETS AND DE- POSITING THEM INDIVIDUALLY IN A COM- MON CONTAINER AS REQUIRED Lee E. Hawley, Granada Hills, Calif., assignor to WCS Sales, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Continuation-impart of abandoned application Ser. No. 661,042, Aug. 16, 1967. This application Mar. 3, 1969, Ser. No. 803,660

Int. Cl. B65g 47/34; F25c 1/10 US. Cl. 62-345 18 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE There is disclosed herein a machine for continuously freezing ice pellets or cubes in separate containers of an endless conveyer, ejecting them individually into a beverage glass upon operation of a manually movable control member, and automatically refilling the emptied containers with fluid to be frozen into additional pellets. The machine includes an endless conveyer having a large number of fluid containers in the form of cups mounted in a horizontal plane in a serpentine fashion. An ejection mechanism is provided for ejecting frozen pellets from the containers, and the containers are refilled after the pellets are ejected therefrom. The conveyer is mounted in a freezing compartment to enable freezing of the fluid in the refilled containers. The machine enables dispensing of ice pellets at a fast rate into a beverage glass or container, without requiring separate storage of pellets in a bin or the like, followed by subsequent manual removal of the pellets for use in a beverage glass.

This application is a continuation-in-part of applicants application entitled, Means for Freezing Ice Pellets and Depositing Them Individually in a Common Container as Required, Ser. No. 661,042, now abandoned, filed Aug. 16, 1967, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

This invention relates to a machine for continuously freezing ice pellets, and more particularly to a machine of this type which enables such pellets to be deposited individually upon command into a receptacle at the point of use.

Various types of machines for freezing ice cubes and ice pellets have been devised. Typical well known devices of this nature are those employed in home refrigerators, and machines for manufacturing ice pellets or chips employed in restaurants, bars, and the like. The conventional home refrigerator ice cube device is of realtively limited capacity. Although the machines used in bars, eating establishments, and the like have greater capacities, all such machines are characterized by several disadvantages.

As an example, typical ice making machines employed in eating establishments are relatively large and enable dispensing ice cubes or pellets by gravity into a container within the machine itself. The cubes are manually removed from the container and either directly used in beverage glasses, or the like, or are placed in another container from which the cubes are taken and used as necessary. The chief disadvantage of such machines is the unsanitary nature of the manner in which the ice cubes are stored and used. In a bar or eating establisment the cubes are usually taken from the machine in buckets and placed in more accessible containers, and the cubes then are removed by hand and placed into beverage glasses. This procedure generally does not comply with the typical local sanitary code requirements. Additionally, such containers frequently are open whereby various foreign material, such as bottle caps, dirt, overflow from filling a beverage glass, and so forth, collect. In some instances recirculated, rather than fresh, water is used in making ice.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present in.- vention to provide an improved ice pellet dispensing machine.

Another object of this invention is to provide an ice pellet dispensing machine which enables ice pellets to be dispensed in a sanitary manner.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an ice cube machine having relatively high capacity which dispenses ice pellets at the point of use without requiring the pellets to be handled manually.

It is an additional object of this invention to provide an ice pellet dispensing machine of relatively high capacity and compact construction.

Another object of this invention is to provide an ice pellet machine having an ejection system for dispensing pellets.

These and other objects and features of the present invention will become better understood through a consideration of the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

"FIG. 1 is a sectional plan view of a preferred embodiment of an ice pellet dispensing machine according to the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional front elevational view of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the mounting assembly for sprockets of the conveyer system of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional end elevational View of the machine taken along a line 4-4 of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an ice pellet cup mechanism of the present machine;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view, partially in section, of the ice pellet cup mechanism and conveyor apparatus of the machine;

FIG. 7 is a combined perspective and diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which the ice pellet cups are filled;

FIGS. 8 through 10 illustrative an alternative form of filling apparatus for the cups of an ice pellet dispensing machine; and

FIGS. 11 through 14 illustrates another alternative filling arrangement for the ice pellet cups.

Turning now to a description of the present invention, briefly the same relates to an automatic ice pellet dispensing machine which enables ice pellets or cubes to be dispensed directly and continuously into a beverage glass or the like without any manual handling of the ice pellets being necessary. The machine includes an endless conveyor having a large plurality of ice pellet cups mounted in a serpentine fashion in a horizontal plane in a compact manner. A small quantity of water is metered into each cup, and as the cups move through the machine the water is frozen. A typical cycle time for filling of a cup to ejection of an ice pellet is approximately six minutes. The presently preferred form of the apparatus employs five hundred and seven cups, freezes approximately twelve hundred pounds of ice per day, and can eject ice pellets at the rate of approximately three pellets per second. The pellets are ejected directly into the beverage container by an ejection mechanism, rather than ejecting by gravity, such that the machine may be used below a counter, bar, or the like. With the machine of the present invention, it is not necessary to utilize a separate temporary container for the ice pellets, along with the consequent requirement of manual removal of pellets from such a container.

Turning now to the drawings, a preferred embodiment of a machine according to the present invention is disclosed and includes a cabinet or housing having upper ad lower compartments 11 and 12 (note FIG. 2). The upper compartment 11 is a freezing compartment which houses an endless conveyor 13 containing a plurality of ice pellet cups 14. The conveyor 13 is in the form of an endless chain as best seen in FIG. 6, but could be any other suitable type endless conveyor. The chain is wrapped around two rows of sprockets 16 and 17 in a serpentine fashion, and extends around sprockets 18 through 23. The sprockets 18 and 19 are guide sprockets, and the sprocket 23 is an idler tension sprocket. The sprocket 20 is a guide sprocket at the ejection mechanism, and the sprocket 21 is a guide sprocket at the refill mechanism. The sprocket 22 is the drive sprocket for the conveyor, and is driven by a motor (not shown) whenever there is a demand for an ice pellet or pellets as will be described subsequently. As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, the conveyor 13 and a large number of cups 14 are mounted in a horizontal plane in a relatively compact fashion and circulate through the entire freezing compartment 11.

The sprockets 16 and 17 may be mounted in any suitable manner. For example, upper and lower brackets 25 and 26 may be provided at the front and rear of the machine for each respective row of sprockets 16 and 17. A shaft 27 is provided for each sprocket, and the shaft is aflixed between the brackets 25 and 26, in any suitable manner such as by means of a retaining strap or straps 28 as best seen in FIG. 3. Each of the sprockets 16 and 17 is mounted for free rotation on its respective shaft. The sprockets 18 and 19 may be mounted in a similar manner.

The sprocket 20 is afiixed to a shaft 29 which in turn is mounted for rotation, and includes a cam 30 affixed near the lower end thereof for operating a switch 31 which in turn serves to energize an ejector solenoid 32 as best seen in FIG. 4. The solenoid 32 mounted in the lower compartment 12 but includes an actuator 33 which extends into the upper compartment 11 for ejecting pellets from the cups 14 upon command.

The sprocket 21 is affixed to a shaft 35 which is suitably mounted for rotation. A multiple funnel refill disk 36 (note FIGS. 4 and 7) also is affixed to the shaft 35 for supplying refill water to the empty cups after ice pellets have been ejected therefrom. The sprocket 22, as noted earlier, is driven by a suitable motor. Preferably this sprocket is formed of metal to ensure that the same is sufiiciently strong for driving the conveyor while the remaining sprockets 16 through 21 and 23 are molded of a plastic material, such as that sold under the name Delerin.

The sprocket 23 is mounted for rotation on a shaft 40 (note FIG. 4), the ends of the shaft being mounted in a pair of brackets having elongated slots therein for allowing the shaft 40 to be moved for properly tensioning the conveyor 13. Only the upper bracket 41 is seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, and this bracket includes an elongated slot 42. It is to be understood that a similar lower bracket with a similar slot also is provided. A lever 43 is pivoted on a shaft 44 and tensioned by a spring linkage 45 causing the lever 43 to bear against the shaft 40. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the shaft 40 is biased toward the bottom of the figure thus causing the sprocket 23 to maintain proper tension in the conveyor chain 13. The conveyor 13 is driven by the sprocket 22 in the direction indicated by arrows 47. The conveyor moves in the serpentine fash- 1011 as best seen in FIG. 1, first passing over deflectors 48 and then over an evaporator 50, ultimately moving to the ejection mechanism 51 at the sprocket 20.

The cups thus circulate through the entire freezing chamber, in which there is a continual circulation of approximately 1600 cubic feet air per minute. The upper and lower chambers 11 and 12 are separated by an insulation insert 52. This insert preferably is molded of expandable polyurethane into essentially a bathtub shape as seen in FIG. 2. The top of the insert and a fan shroud 53 form an air flow path as indicated by arrows 54, and air is circulated in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2 by a motor driven fan 55. The fan is driven from a motor 56 mounted in the lower chamber 12, and draws air down through the evaporator and up through a passageway 57 between the insert 52 and shroud to the deflectors 48. The deflectors deflect the air back toward the top of the evaporator. The cool air thus impinges upon the cups passing over the deflectors, and the cups are continually cooled all along their path across the evaporator 50. The evaporator may be of conventional construction and include a plurality of copper tubes with aluminum fins thereon. Portions of a compressor 58 and water cooled condenser 59 are shown mounted in the lower chamber 12, these components and their interconnections which form the refrigeration system are conventional. A two, and one-half ton compressor is suitable. The insert, shroud, fan and evaporator arrangement provides a relatively simple and efiicient cooling system for the water in the cups While enabling a rela tively compact machine to be provided.

Turning now to detailed consideration of the cups, the same are illustrated in detail in FIGS. 5 and 6. Each cup includes a cup body 60 having a plurality of exterior fins 61 thus providing a maximum of heat transfer surface. The bottom 62 of the body 60 extends through a sleeve 63 of the conveyer chain 13 which may be made up of sheet metal links 64 and 65 in a conventional manner. The cup body includes a bore 66 and a plunger 67 positioned within the bore. The plunger 67 includes a head 68, and the plunger is biased downwardly 1 by a spring 69 and retaining clip 70. The head 68 and bottom of the cup form a metal to metal seal and prevent water from leaking out of the cup. Preferably, the interior of the cup has a frusto-conical bore 71 with an inclined angle of approximately twenty degrees, that is, each wall is ten degrees. The cup may be a diecast aluminum, and the interior wall thereof preferably has a lining 72 of a fluorocarbon resin such as that sold under the name Teflon. A typical cup has an outside diameter at the top thereof of seven-eighth inch, a wall thickness of one-thirty-second inch, an overall length of two and eleven-thirty-second inches, and a container height of one inch. Although not shown, preferably a rubber sleeve is mounted over the spring 69 to prevent moisture from accumulating on the spring and lower end of the plunger 67.

As will be apparent, the frozenv pellet is ejected from the cup by means of the actuator 33 of the solenoid 32 (note FIG. 4). The solenoid 32 preferably is enclosed and sealed in a light oil bath to reduce the noise of operation thereof. The actuator has a stroke of approximately one inch at 55 pounds thrust. The top of the actuator 33 engages the bottom of the plunger 67 thereby ejecting an ice pellet 74 up through an ejection tube 75 which extends down through the cover 76 of the machine. The interior of the tube 75 has a passageway of cylindrical cross section.

Ejection of the pellet 74 is caused by placing a beverage glass 76 against a door 77 of the ejection tube housing 78 which in turn engages a switch 79. This switch in combination with the cam operated switch 31 energizes the solenoid 32. The cam 30 has nine lobes so as to close the switch 31 at predetermined locations of the sprocket 20 to thereby ensure precise positioning of the cup 14 at the time of ejection of an ice pellet. The switch 79 also serves to energize the driving motor for the driving sprocket 22 and a refill solenoid 80 (FIG. 7) as will be explained subsequently. Ice pellets 74 are ejected as long as the switch 79 is closed by the door 77, the precise timing of energization of the solenoid 32 being controlled bythe cam 30 and switch 31 as noted above. The nine lobes on the cam 30 correspond to the nine teeth on the several sprockets.

The cups are refilled by a refill mechanism 81 as best seen in FIGS. 4 and 7. This mechanism includes the multiple funnel disk 36 which has nine funnel chambers 82. This disk rotates with the sprocket 21 thereby always maintaining one of the funnel chambers 82 in alignment with a cup 14. A refill tube 83 is coupled through a petcock 84 and the solenoid valve 80 to a water reservoir 85. Preferably, the water reservoir is coupled \with the local water supply by means of a conventional float 'valve arrangement. In this manner, the water reservoir 85 can maintain a suitable supply of water at the necessary head, such that refill water can be supplied to the disk 36 without being dependent upon the pressure of the local water supply. The petcock serves to apportion the amount of water for filling the cups, and the solenoid valve 80 controls the time of flow.

As noted earlier, operation of the switch 79 by the glass 76 and door 77 energizes the refill solenoid 80. This solenoid is energized as long as the switch 79 is closed thereby supplying refill water to the disk 36 and thus to one or more cups 14. For example, if three cubes are desired the glass 76 is pressed against the door 77 thereby closing the switch 79. This energizes the drive motor for the conveyor 13 and energizes the solenoid 80. The three pellets 74 are ejected seriatum by the solenoid 32 under control of the cam 30 and switch 31, and three empty cups are refilled by the disk 36 as it moves under the refill tube 83. Any desired number of ice pellets can be dispensed in the same manner, with empty cups being refilled and then moving on for freezing of the water therein.

The construction of the cabinet may take any suitable form, but preferably it is made of metal with a stainless steel top cover 76. The top layer of expanded polyurethane (not shown) preferably is mounted over the conveyer 13 but beneath the top cover 76 of the machine. This layer may be sealed with the upper edges of the insert 52 by a suitable gasket or rubbery sealing compound. Preferably, the two are not permanently secured together so that the conveyer system, cups, and so forth are accessible if desired. The water reservoir may be mounted in any convenient location, such as within the ejector housing 78 above the level of the cover 76. A typical size for a machine of the present invention is approximately thirty-tfive inches high, twenty-seven inches deep and fifty inches long, and includes five-hundred and seven cups 14 as noted earlier.

The parent application, 'Ser. No. 661,042, noted above, disclosed several constructions for various aspects of the ice pellet machine according to the present invention. Although disclosing and claiming the same inventive concepts, the earlier application disclosed both a mechanical cam actuator and a solenoid actuator for ejecting pellets from the cups, as well as several refill constructions and valving arrangements. Thus, it is to be understood that although the preferred construction is as described above, a mechanical camming arrangement for ejecting pellets, as well as other arrangements therefor and arrangements for refilling the cups may be utilized without departing from applicants inventive concepts. Although the entire disclosure of the earlier application is incorporated herein by reference, FIGS. 8 through 10 and the following description, relating to particular constructions in said earlier application, are specifically included herein for exemplary purposes. FIGS. 8 through 10 illustrate a refill arrangement similar to that described above in connection with FIGS. 4 and 7, but further include a cover 36a for the 6 funnel disk 36. The cover 36a is mounted between the disk 36 and a collar 36b, the collar 36b, disk 36, and sprocket 21 being afiixed to the shaft 35 for rotation. The cover 36a is slotted and prevented from rotating by a lip 360. The cover 36a had an aperture through which the end of the refill tube 83 extends, and serves to ensure that each of the cups is refilled through the funnels 82 of the disk 36 without any water spillage.

FIGS. 11 through 14 illustrate another alternative filling arrangement wherein a refill disk serves as both a reservoir and a mechanically operated refill valve. Water is supplied at a fitting 91 up through a hollow shaft 92 through a plurality of check valves 93 to a plurality of individual reservoirs 94. The disk 90 and sprocket 21 are aifixed to and rotate with the shaft '92. A second check valve 95 is provided for supplying water from the reservoir through an outlet 96 to a cup. A spring biased cam finger 97 is operated by a cylindrical cam surface 98. The center of this cam surface may be offset from the center of the disk 90 or it may include a suitable cam finger actuating portion to properly operate the finger 97. Water from a local supply is supplied to the fitting 91, and when the finger 97 is pushed radially inwardly by the cam 98 as shown in FIG. 12, water flows through the check valve 93 to the reservoir 94, the top of which becomes closed by a float ball 100. Movement of the finger 97 radially outwardly by the force of the spring thereon, causes a piston operator 101 to engage and raise the ball check valve 95 as seen in FIG. 14 to allow water to flow from the reservoir 94 through the outlet 96 to the cup 14. The disk 90 includes nine of the valves, reservoirs, and outlets as diagrammatically indicated in FIG. 13, only two being illustrated in detail in FIGS. 8 and 14.

It thus should be apparent that several different constructions and configurations may be employed for the refilling mechanism. Other valving type arrangements, either mechanical or electrical, also may be employed for controlling the refill of the individual cups or ejecting ice pellets. Additionally, other switching arrangements may be employed for properly energizing the solenoid 32. For example, an etched circuit switch plate may be coupled With the shaft 29- and include conductive and nonconductive segments along with conductive wipers associated therewith for properly energizing the solenoid 32 at predetermined times rather than using the cam 30 and switch 31 arrangement.

What is claimed is: 1. An automatic ice pellet dispensing machine comprising a housing, conveyer means mounted in said housing for receiving amounts of fluid which are frozen into pellets and for supplying the pellets for disepnsing thereof, said conveying means comprising an endless flexible member and a plurality of fluid receiving cups mounted thereon, said flexible members being disposed substantially in a horizontal plane and arranged substantially in a serpentine fashion, each of said cups having plunger means operable to eject a pellet therefrom,

refrigeration means for freezing the fluid in said cups,

ejector means having an actuator for selectively engaging the plunger 0f the cup for ejecting a pellet therefrom generally in an upward direction, and

refill means disposed with respect to said conveyer means for selectively refilling each cup after a pellet has been ejected therefrom.

2. A machine as in claim 1 wherein each of said cups comprises a body having upper and lower portions and said flexible member comprises a chain device, the upper portion of each body has a substantially frusto-conical receptacle and the lower portion of each body is coupled with the chain device, and the bottom portion of each said body has an aperture therein for receiving said plunger, each said plunger being normally biased to seal the receptacle in the top portion of the body.

3. A machine as in claim 2 wherein said ejector means includes an electromagnetically operated actuator for selectively and serially engaging the lower extremity of the plunger of each cup on command.

4. A machine as in claim 3 including a sprocket member for positioning each cup under an upwardly extending ejector device having a passageway through which ice pellets are dispensed upwardly, and switch means coupled with respect to said sprocket member to operate said ejector means when each cup is in a predetermined position below said ejector device.

5. A machine as in claim 4 including another sprocket member for positioning said conveyer means with respect to said refill means, said refill means comprising a funnel member for directing fluid from a source of fluid into said cups serially after pellets have been ejected therefrom, said refill means including means responsive to dispensing of a pellet to supply fluid to a cup.

6. A machine as in claim 5 including configured baffle means mounted in said housing and forming an air circulation passageway for causing a continuous circulation of air past said conveyer means and said cups, said configured means including insulation means forming said passageway and a fan for circulating air.

7. A machine as in claim 4 including another sprocket member for positioning said conveyer means with respect to said refill means, said refill means comprising a refill disk having a plurality of funnel sections therein for respectively directing fluid from a source of fluid into said cups serially after pellets have been ejected therefrom, said refill means including a reservoir of fluid and an electrically operated valve responsive to dispensing of a pellet for supplying fluid to each cup.

8. A machine as in claim 4 including a second sprocket member for positioning said conveyer means with respect to said refill means, said refill means comprising a plurality of individual reservoirs for containing a supply of fluid for several cups, valve means for supplying fluid from a source of fluid to each of said reservoirs, and valve means responsive to the position of said second sprocket member for supplying fluid to a cup after dispensing of a pellet therefrom.

9. A machine as in claim 1 wherein said ejector means includes an electromagnetically operated actuator for selectively and serially engaging on command the lower extremity of the plunger of each cup substantially coaxially with the axis of the cup.

10. A machine as in claim 1 including a sprocket member for positioning each cup under an upwardly extending ejector device having a passageway through which ice pellets are dispersed upwardly, and switch means coupled with respect to said sprocket member to operate said ejector means when each cup is in a predetermined position below said ejector device.

11. A machine as in claim 1 including a sprocket member for positioning said conveyer means with respect to said refill means, said refill means comprising a funnel member rotating with said sprocket member and having a plurality of cavities for selectively directing fluid from a source of fluid into said cups serially after pellets have been ejected therefrom, said refill means including means responsive to dispensing of a pellet to supply fluid to a cup.

12. A machine as in claim 1 including configuratcd baflle means mounted in said housing and 8 forming an air circulation passageway for causing a continuous circulation of air past said conveyer means and said cups, said configured means including insulation means forming said passageway and a fan for circulating air. 13. A cup type receptacle for use with a chain-link-type conveyer of an ice pellet dispensing machine comprising a body having upper and lower portions,

the upper portion of the body having a substantially frusto-conical receptacle for receiving fluid to be frozen into an ice pellet,

the lower portion of said body being elongated for extending into the pivotal connection between links of said conveyer, said lower portion having an aperture therethrough,

a plunger extending through said aperture, said plunger having a head member for forming a seal at the bottom of said receptacle and for ejecting an ice pellet upwardly from said receptacle, said plunger having a stern extending downwardly through said conveyer for enabling upward actuation of said plunger by an actuator underlying said conveyer, and

spring biasing means coupled between said plunger and said body for normally biasing said plunger downwardly for causing said head member to seal said receptacle.

14. A conveying and ejection system for an ice pellet dispensing machine comprising conveyer means for conveying a plurality of cups through a refrigeration chamber, said conveying means comprising an endless flexible member having said cups coupled therewith,

each of said cups comprising an upper receptacle for receiving fluid to be frozen into an ice pellet and a lower portion coupling the cup with said flexible member, each said cup including a plunger therein for ejecting a frozen pellet therefrom, each said plunger extending downwardly from said conveyer means,

ejector means for selectively engaging the plunger of each cup for ejecting the pellet upwardly from the cup, said ejector means including an electromagnetically operated actuator for selectively and serially engaging on command each said plunger below said conveyer means, and

means coupled with said conveyer means for serially positioning each cup adjacent said actuator for allowing engagement of said actuator with each respective plunger.

15. Apparatus as in claim 14 including refill means disposed with respect to said conveyer means for selectively refilling each cup after a pellet has been ejected therefrom, said refill means comprising a funnel member coupled with said conveyer means and having plural apertures for directing fluid from a source of fluid into said cups serially after pellets have been ejected from said cups, said refill means including means responsive to dispensing of a pellet to supply fluid to a cup.

16. Refill apparatus for an ice pellet dispensing machine for supplying fluid to a plurality of cups carried by a conveyer comprising 9 10 17. Apparatus as in claim 16 wherein fan means located adjacent said refrigeration means said funnel means includes a plurality of chambers for and shroud member for circulating air through said retaining said source of fluid, and said valve means passageway. includes a cam operated valve for allowing fluid to References Cited flow from a chamber through a respective aperture 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS to a respective cup after a pellet has been e ected 18577122 5/1932 Sherman 62 345 from a cup. I 18. A machine as in claim 1 including 119 551669 4/1934 Botz 62 '3 80 baflie means mounted in said housing and forming an 2,431,916 12/1947 Caesar 62 345 X air circulation passageway for causing a continuous 10 2522651 9/1950 f Vleck 62 345 X circulation of air past said conveyer means and said 2,645,092 7/1953 RldnPur 62 380 X refrigeration means, said bafile means including a 216461666 7/1953 Vlaslc 62345 configured insulation member underlying said convey- 2,697,918 12/ 195 4 COmStock er means and said refrigeration means, a shroud 2,925,052 2/1960 Glass 62-345 X member mounted between said insulation member 15 3,027,733 4/1962 fiuPacker 62353 and said refrigeration means, and a cover overlying 3280584 10/1966 Gnmm et said conveyer means and said refrigeration means and substantially sealed with the upper edges of said insulation member, said insulation member and shroud member forming an air passageway through said re- 20 frigeration means and past said conveyer means, and

WILLIAM E. WAYNER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. XJR- 

